Some republicans have been leaping through incredibly convoluted hoops in their attempts to justify supporting Judge Roy Moore in the special Senate election in Alabama, in light of the revelations from at least five women claiming that Moore groped or sexually assaulted them when they were teenagers and he was in this thirties.
In addition to strong support from Pres. Trump -- who told reporters "he totally denies it, he says it didn't happen," last week -- on Monday night (Nov. 27) Joel Pollak, a senior editor at far-right news site Breitbart went even further in search of a reason to back the controversial candidate: music. Speaking to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, Pollak pointed to former Beatle Ringo Starr's 1973 cover of rockabilly singer Johnny Burnette's 1960 Sherman Brothers-penned hit "You're Sixteen" as an example of the normalization of sexual relations between adults and underage teens.
The internet, as you can imagine, was not having it.
"You know, in 1973, Ringo Starr hit No. 1 on the billboard charts with the song 'You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful and You're Mine,'" Pollak said as Cuomo's face visibly curdled with incredulity. "[H]e was 30-something at the time, singing about a 16-year-old. You want to take away Ringo Starr's achievement?" Pollak pondered as Cuomo's face went blank.
"You can't be serious," replied the New Day co-host. "You think that Ringo Starr's song is supposed to be a nod towards allowing 30-year-old men to prey on teenagers?... You don't believe that, Joel. You're a parent. You don't believe that." Pollak then doubled down and said that as a father he worried that young men could be endangered by false accusations, which Republicans have claimed the allegations against Moore are.
When a CNN producer posted the clip to Twitter the responses were not kind, to say the least.
